I don’t think there’s a role-playing game that represents my generation better than Final Fantasy VII. When it was first released in 1997, I remember browsing through my video game magazine and wondering what an RPG was. Luckily, my parents bought me a copy of the game at our local K-Mart and one very long (Game Shark-hacked) playthrough later, I was blown away at the sheer enormity of the adventure. Iconic characters + memorable music = maybe the best first RPG experience I could’ve asked for. When the Remake was announced, I decided with a few friends to re-play the Original up to the Midgar escape before diving into FF7R. I previously purchased a copy of FF7O on the PS4 when it was first re-released, so I loaded the game up with the intent to Platinum both the Original and, once released, the Remake. Here are some of the most memorable trophies during my runs:
To my readers who haven’t played either game yet: SPOILERS follow, so please beware!
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Final Fantasy VII Original
Best Bromance
This one required a bit of planning to make sure I knew which answers to choose for the prompts to +Barret and -Aerith/Tifa/Yuffie. The last time I played Original, I went for the Yuffie date. The Barret date is just as funny, though I wish Barret and Cloud got to do the play. A definite must-see, especially after going through the Aerith and Tifa dates.
See the Light
It was cool to finally obtain Aerith’s level 4 Limit Break, as I’d seen videos/screenshots of it online but never in-game. Getting the Limit Break manual, though, is a bit of a challenge unless you know what to do beforehand. It’s a very cool animation — 3 angels come down from the sky to grant full HP/MP and invincibility to the party for a short time.
Coming Up All Nines, Liege of Leveling
These two trophies took the most grinding time and I consequently did them together on Disc 3. For gil, I decided to sell maxed out All Materias, which sell for 1.4 million gil per mastered materia. Best place for this definitely has to be the swamp area in the Northern Crater, with its Magic Pots and Movers. Grinding the necessary AP and selling them off got me to about level 86, with the last 13 levels left for me to grind in the crater itself. EXP Plus materia from Gold Saucer helped tons and once Cloud was level 99, I dipped straight to the end boss.
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Biker Boy
The addition of Chapter 4, which takes place between the Reactor 1 and Reactor 5 missions, was a really nice touch for adding background to our favorite Avalanche members. Whether it was her flirty personality or playful teasing, Jessie was easily my favorite part of the Remake. This trophy was actually pretty tough for me, however. I ended up doing it on Easy and I remember staying far away from all enemies until I could shoot the sword projectile. Roche was a little bit tougher, but after a few attempts his attack pattern became easier to adjust to.
(P.S. Jessie Rasberry is a national treasure ❤)
Ultimate Weapon
Pride and Joy prototype is the final optional boss at the end of the Shinra Combat Simulator VR missions. The 4 fights preceding it, however, were definitely a million times harder. I tried a few different methods, but ended up going with Aerith + Tifa, a pair of Revival Earrings on each, and some very lucky Limit Breaks. The reward for defeating P&J was the Gotterdammerung, which really helped make the Hard Mode playthrough pretty trivial. Also very cool to see this allude to the Proud Clod, which this seems to be an obvious prototype of.
Dressed to the Nines
This trophy requires a bit of planning to ensure the fewest run throughs. I (luckily) only had to do the hellishly long and cumbersome Chapter 9 three times: doing every side quest on the first run through, the bare minimum for my second run through on Hard Mode, and then the final requirements during a last time. The Remake does Wall Market in a very fun and different take from the Original, and despite its length, I quite enjoyed the Corneo Colosseum fights (especially the last boss).
Fun Facts
Final Fantasy VII Original
Platinum took 4 years, 3 months (16 Feb 2016 to 09 Jun 2020)
Game timer: 30:52:46 (before last bosses)
Time to Platinum: About 31 hours (with boosters post-Midgar escape!)
Final Fantasy VII Remake:
Platinum took 3 weeks, 6 days (18 Apr 2020 to 16 May 2020)
Game timer: 65:36:20
Time to Platinum: About 66 hours
Overall, it was a blast playing the Final Fantasy VII games. I cannot wait for Part 2 of the Remake to come out!
